Policy continuity illustrated with Duplos

My fieldwork in Brasília overlapped with both rounds of Brazil’s 2010 election, so I got to see a lot of campaign ads on TV. This ad was my favorite, and inspired one of the central arguments in my dissertation. It’s by Agnelo Queiroz, who was the Workers’ Party (PT) candidate for Governor of the Federal District. (He won the election). I think that the images communicate a lot even without understanding Portuguese. My translation, after the break.

The narrator says, “It’s always the same story: when the government changes, the new government changes everything the previous government did…and starts everything from scratch.” He’s saying that as hands disassemble the tower and then build a new one. Then Agnelo addresses the viewer, stating: “I’m going to do things differently. My promise is to review all the works of the previous government. What was good we’ll continue. What was bad we’ll change. This is the new path for our city”